The Internet Rules, But How ? A Science and Technology Studies (STS) Take on Doing Internet Governance

Abstract

Over the last decade, the regulation and governance of the Internet at the national and international level have attracted growing attention by policy-makers and researchers. This is particularly the case in post-Snowden times which increased distrust of formal government institutions and their ‘dangerous liaisons’ with the private sector. Accordingly, observing and researching governing processes as they relate to the Internet is both timely and important.

Traditionally, researchers and practitioners in Internet governance (IG) focused on new institutions established to discuss and negotiate the technical coordination of the Internet or related policies. Recently, authors have criticized this institutional focus, and perspectives from Science and Technology Studies (STS) suggest to rethink and substantiate questions of ordering and governing the net. In this view, the ‘doing’ of IG more broadly consists in practices and controversies of the design, regulation, and use of material infrastructures, as well as digital uses and practices.

This preconference workshop seeks to nurture the growing interest in researching and observing IG from STS-informed perspectives. More broadly, the workshop aims to facilitate a discussion and an exchange of perspectives about the intertwined roles of design, infrastructures, and informal communities of practice in IG. This workshop is part of a broader effort of advancing an STS-informed conversation on Internet governance : it builds on the panel on STS perspectives on IG that took place during AoIR 2015 in Phoenix and a forthcoming special issue of the Internet Policy Review (to be published in early September 2016).